Hot hatches are curious things. At their core, they are just normal, workaday cars that have been jazzed up a bit. Some alloy wheels here, a bit of a body kit there, maybe some fog lights for good measure. Though of course, that’s only half the story. These visual additions were there to make the […]

William Lyons needed something new, something dramatic and something exciting. Jaguar was on the brink of collapse post-war. Plans to develop a new engine were slow, and the pressure put on manufacturers to build cars for export was hurting Jaguar, as its older, more traditional offerings simply weren’t floating the American car buyer’s boat. With […]

The anthropomorphism of the automobile operates on a variety of levels, and it’s not always something we have total control over. Applying human or animalistic characteristics to cars happens all over the place, whether it be as simple as an owner referring to their motor as ‘he’ or ‘she’, or giving it a name, to […]

Some cars are just cars. By that, we mean they fulfill the dictionary definition of the word ‘car’ and that’s it. Some cars, on the other hand, are icons. Be that of power, handling or in the case of the Audi TT, design. These machines rise higher than the rest of the automotive landscape, earning […]

Photography by Bruce Holder The lead shot for this feature wasn’t easy to get. A close-knit tracking shot is only ever millimetres away from looking like a Hollywood car crash, so you have to have your wits about you. On this occasion, that was somewhat difficult. There was a Morgan ARP4 ahead of me, and […]

A lot of cars have been successfully named after winds. Volkswagen in particular has been mining this fruitful seam for years – Scirocco, Passat, Vento, you name it; even the Golf is named after the Gulf Stream. Renault had a crack at it in 2010, although badging their effort ‘Wind’ didn’t totally enter into the […]

Think of a Ferrari, any Ferrari at all. What’s the first Italian stallion to be conjured up by your mind’s eye? F40 perhaps? Maybe the 250 GTO? Or, is it something more modern like the F355 of the La Ferrari? Whatever it is, we’re willing to bet it wasn’t a Mondial. You know, the four-seat […]

There are few things in the motoring world as pure as going for a blast in a light, agile, well-balanced sports car. The Japanese knew this, which is why the MX-5 of the late ‘80s was so heavily influenced by cars like the classic Lotus Elan. Both cars are no frills, basic engineering, but basic […]

From the moment Ford put the final nail into the Capri’s coffin in 1986, we were asking for a new one. While the Capri perhaps ended its life under a cloud, thanks to being overshadowed by the emergence of the hot hatch, there was no escaping that for many the Capri was the ultimate in […]

The Daimler SP250 is one of those cars that you either absolutely adore, or you’re left confused by it. There is after all, no escaping the fact that it’s a bit of an odd looking little thing. That killer front overbite, the tall rear fins, the flared arches. It’s all very, erm, unique. But Daimler […]